Match Preview: Eagles vs Somerset

Ground Reality: The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Hyderabad has already hosted three matches, two of which went right down to the wire, while the third saw the Cobras post the highest total of the tournament. Based on the evidence of these matches, the pitch should play true and provide a good contest. The forecast is for partly cloudy skies.

Team News:

Eagles: They have gotten through to the Super Eights stage by the skin off their teeth, requiring no less than a super over to clinch victory against Sussex. However, beating Sussex will give them some confidence before facing the other English side in the tournament. However, notwithstanding the win against Sussex, the Eagles need to sort out several problems. They were coasting and should have cantered to victory, but instead had to squeak through - which is not a good commentary on their middle-order batsmen. Rilee Rossouw was the only batsman to cross 20, and it was on the back of his 65 that the victory was achieved. Captain Boeta Dippenaar has been short of runs and the Eagles will need some big hitting Morne van Wyk and Ryan McLaren. The bowling has been their stronger suit by far, and the bowlers had performed creditably even in the match against New South Wales, restricting the strong side to a par-total. They again did the job against Sussex, and will need to carry their form through the rest of the tournament and hope the batsmen start backing them up.

Somerset: Like the Eagles, Somerset can consider themselves slightly lucky that they are competing in the Super Eights at all. Their net run-rate was the worst in their group, and had not Hyderabad choked in two tight matches, the entire team would have been on the flight back home with Marcus Trescothick. Somerset, like their opponents, lack big names - especially now that Tresothick is no longer available. Their only real international face is captain Justin Langer, and he hasn't yet set the Twenty20 game on fire the way he had Test matches. The hero of their win against Hyderabad - Alfonso Thomas has had a good outing so far, but they cannot expect their NO.9 batsman to bail them out in a match more than once. That it happened in the group stage was lucky for them as it enabled them to qualify, but from now the top-order - which has failed for two matches in a row - has to take responsibility. In many ways, Somerset have almost the exact same strengths and weaknesses as their opponents - a shaky batting order complemented by a decent bowling attack. To give themselves a chance to match tougher teams though, that will have to change.

Numbers Game:

7.11 - Alfonso Thomas' economy rate in Twenty20 matches for Somerset. Thomas has played 22 matches, and his is the best economy rate amongst all bowlers. The fact that Somerset don't have a single bowler who has an economy rate of less than 7 is a worrying one for them.

13.8 - The strike rate of CJD de Villiers - hero of the Eagles super-over - in Twenty20 matches for the Eagles. His is the best strike rate amongst all the Eagles bowlers (minimum 35 overs).

Soundbytes:

"He is probably the best young prospect in South Africa by far. I'll bet my mortgage on it that he would have a very successful career for South Africa." Dippenaar has high words of praise for Rossouw.

"Marcus has made a great effort to travel to India. Regrettably it has not worked out for him and he has travelled back to England to rejoin his family. The club and all his team mates have fully appreciated this effort and personal commitment and look forward to further success on his behalf." - Brian Rose, Somerset's director of cricket, on Marcus Trescothick.